𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗱 ‘𝘂𝗽', 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁? This situation is common across many UK organisations and beyond. There are valid reasons why safeguards are in place to reduce risk taking or mistakes, however, this often comes at the expense of speed, innovation, resourcefulness and engagement.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀. It spreads the responsibility for decision making across the organisation. The idea is simple. It requires people who are making a decision or proposing an idea to ask for advice from the people or teams who will be affected by decision or with expertise on the matter.
The proposer then owns and executes the decision.
There are 𝟱 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 that make it work:
1️⃣ The decision maker needs to actively listen to other people (both knowledgeable and affected people). They can choose to either amend their proposed idea, establish a work group to refine it, stop the idea; of if they're convinced they are closest to the information they may decide to make or trial the decision, but they are fully responsible for the consequences.
2️⃣ The people consulted are responsible for actively helping the decision maker to make a better decision
3️⃣ The decision maker needs to be held accountable for their decision to the rest of the organisation
4️⃣ The process needs to be Transparent - the proposer has to communicate the decision and share the advice they received and explain why or why not they acted upon it
5️⃣ There should be a constant feedback loop measuring the outcome of the decisions and sharing the learning
Many agile and self-organising teams use this approach as they search for quicker, workable decisions rather than striving for perfection.
Do you practice the advice process in your organisation? What tips do you have?
#leadership #decisionmaking #agile
